Mother arrested after killing her baby with morphine overdose

By Mason White 4:28 AM February 19, 2013

Prenise Payne

By: Moses Gold
(Scroll down for video) A woman was arrested and charged after her baby died of a morphine overdose, according to court proceedings in Missouri.
The woman has been charged with involuntary manslaughter after her 19-month-old son died of a morphine overdose.

Prenise Payne, 22, is being held on $150,000 cash only bail in the death of his son. She was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the first degree.

The child, Jace Lee Echoles, died late last year, while in the care of Payne. He had been found unconscious in bed in Payne’s house. Jace was later pronounced dead at Northeast Christian Hospital.

An autopsy showed that Jace had been given a lethal dose of morphine and blamed Payne of recklessly causing the death of the child. Police said they are still investigating exactly how the drug ended up in Jace’s system.

Payne’s father, Parnell, Payne 57, said that the morphine belonged to him and blamed himself for the death, but he did not say how the child ingested the morphine.